Moto – The KTM Cafe

So time flys when your having fun right? Well my little 3 week make over that I did on my 2008 KTM 250 EXC-F over 2 years ago is still going strong and some great new pictures by my good friend Dean Walters have sparked me to give you a refresh on how the bikes going.

This bike was never meant to stay like this, it was a quick build that filled a void, a void that I wanted to fill with a larger capacity road bike, there was nothing on the market that I wanted and every lead took me to building my own, I was deep in the middle of the Hilux build and everything was focused on that, but I just needed to get away from it every now and then and this was what I needed.

There is no better feeling than the sun shining, firing up your bike and setting out for adventure, its that sense of freedom that you get on a bike that sends a refreshing feeling sweeping through your body.

When your riding something that you have built it gives that sense of refreshment a spice of accomplishment aswell.

The 250F engine has proven to be a great little motor, lacking some torque but allowing the bike to do everything I want it to. I have owned this bike since new from 2007, it allowed me to get my motorcycle licence and learn all about the joys of riding.

Last week I decided to give the KTM a small makeover, just a quick freshen up as two years of riding had started to take its toll on the bodywork.

I shifted the tank forward another 50mm

Dropped the rear suspension another 50mm, remade the tail section a little longer and sleeker, intergrated the tailight into the rear and also mounted the indicators in the tail.

I cut a 40mm hole into the back of the head light and inserted the wiring loom inside it to delete all the mess over the front end, I also cut the springs in the forks another 70mm, that now brings the lowering of the front around the 200mm mark.

Its still a dirt bike at heart, although the front end feels rather average its still great fun to blast around sideways in the dirt.

Its different to think of it as the bike it once was, essentially it could be put back to a dirt bike within a few hours, I made it that way because it was just something to fill a void while I finished the Hilux, then I could start on my new 100% hand built KTM 450.

That new KTM is in the works now, the Hilux is finished but this bike is here to stay, I couldn’t imagine life without it and it shares some pretty good memories of all those times we went somewhere together.